One billion years in the future. Earth so old that it only has desert land and one city, Diaspar. Run by the Central Computer, this enclosed city is made up of people put together in the Hall of Creation. And a replica of the entire city is saved in the Council Hall, so that changes can be made and the city modified as needed.
A rewrite of his first novella, Against the Fall of Night, The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke is the story of a time when humanity, just like a couch or a house or a city, is created - its memories deleted or saved in the Memory Banks for all of eternity. Into this world, where everyone is a recycled creation, Alvin is born. This is the story of the quest of the first child to be born on earth for at least 10 million years.
As always, Clarke presents ideas that have never been explored before. What also emerges in this tale about history’s greatest scientific achievement: the creation of an incorporeal intellect is the question of Religion. What happened to the Galactic Empire at the end of the Dawn Ages? What really happened at Shalmirane? … As Alvin and his companion Hilvar journey together beyond the stars and start to uncover bits of history, the true story of the Religion of the Great Ones, led by the Master, unravels and subsequently uncovers the disastrous results of imposing limitations on something as limitless as the human mind.
I have to say I was a little disappointed by Alvin’s final decision, especially given the fantastic story that Vanamonde revealed, incomplete though it may have been. Still, here is yet another foray into that limitless Space that surrounds us all; a foray that only Arthur C. Clarke can effortlessly and convincingly make.
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